Constraints on impact rates in the pluto-charon system and the population of the Kuiper comet belt

Journal Article · Wed Nov 01 00:00:00 EST 1989 · Geophysical Research Letters (American Geophysical Union); (USA)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1029/GL016i011p01241· OSTI ID:5946910

Weissman, P R ^[1]; Dobrovolskis, A R ^[2]; Stern, S A ^[3]

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1. Jet Propulsion Lab., Pasadena, CA (USA)
2. NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA (USA)
3. Univ. of Colorado, Boulder (USA)

Impact rates in the Pluto-Charon system are dominated by comets from the proposed Kuiper Belt, 30 to 50 AU from the Sun. Such collisions excite the eccentricity of Charon's orbit, which then decays due to tidal dissipation. Charon's eccentricity approaches a quasi-steady state, which can be used to constrain the total number and mass of comets in the Kuiper Belt. Unfortunately, the current upper limit on Charon's orbital eccentricity must be reduced by more than a factor of ten before useful constraints can be set.

• OSTI ID: 5946910
• Journal Information: Geophysical Research Letters (American Geophysical Union); (USA), Vol. 16:11; ISSN 0094-8276
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
COMETS
POPULATIONS
PLUTO PLANET
COLLISIONS
DYNAMICS
GRAVITATIONAL INTERACTIONS
IMPACT SHOCK
LIMITING VALUES
MASS
ORBITS
SATELLITES
SOLAR NEBULA
SOLAR SYSTEM
SOLAR SYSTEM EVOLUTION
TIDE
BASIC INTERACTIONS
INTERACTIONS
MECHANICS
NEBULAE
PLANETS
640107* - Astrophysics & Cosmology- Planetary Phenomena